The number of North American visitors to the Dominican Republic was down 1.7% from January through September, representing 33,148 fewer travelers from the U.S and 18,538 fewer visitors from Canada, according to the data from its Central Bank.
The North American market makes up 60% of all visitors to the country.
Air arrivals from Europe decreased 4.7%, as well, with the biggest decline seen in the U.K.
Total international visitors numbered more than 4.2 million for the first nine months of this year, compared with 4.3 million during the same period in 2018.
Negative press coverage related to the deaths of several American travelers in June, as well as the presence of sargassum on some of the popular beaches this summer and stormy weather alerts that caused flight cancellations in September had a detrimental effect on overall visitor numbers, according to the Central Bank.